An Australian gambler is suing a casino for tens of millions of dollars for allegedly luring him back to the gaming tables after he had banned himself from the premises. Harry Kakavas is claiming Aus$30-million (about R170-million) he says he lost playing baccarat at Melbourne’s Crown Casino in a 14-month spree — plus damages.
World champion Fernando Alonso has come out against plans to stage Formula One grand prix races at night. Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has spoken of wanting to include a number of night races on the F1 schedule as early as next season.
Double world champion Fernando Alonso hopes to get his McLaren career off to a winning start on Sunday in an Australian Grand Prix that is far more than just a season-opener. Formula One is also entering what promises to be a fascinating new era after the retirement last October of Ferrari’s seven-time world champion, Michael Schumacher.
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/ 27 February 2007
Batsman Mike Hussey believes four teams will be the main threats to Australia at the World Cup. ”I think the South Africans are obviously a very, very well drilled unit, Sri Lanka I think are going to be very dangerous, Pakistan on their day are dangerous and the Kiwis have shown that they’ve been playing some pretty consistent one-day cricket as well,” Hussey said.
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/ 9 February 2007
Paul Collingwood hit a superb century to guide England to a nailbiting four-wicket victory over Australia in the opening tri-series final match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. After Australia had slipped from a promising 170-1 to 252 all out, England recovered from 15-3 to win with three balls to spare and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
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/ 8 February 2007
England captain Michael Vaughan is out of the tri-series finals after failing to recover from the latest flare-up of his hamstring injury, team officials said on Thursday. Vaughan will fly home on Saturday for treatment, they said, adding the influential skipper was expected to be fit for next month’s World Cup.
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/ 7 February 2007
England All-rounder Andrew Flintoff is bowling and batting better since he’s been relieved of the England cricket captaincy, coach Duncan Fletcher said Wednesday. Flintoff performed well individually in the three tri-series matches when Michael Vaughan took over as skipper. England wins in two of those matches put them into the tri-series finals against Australia.
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/ 1 February 2007
Australian cricket chiefs on Thursday banned spectators from launching the Mexican wave at all remaining one-day international matches in the country. Cricket Australia announced that the practice, in which spectators choreograph a wave effect in the grandstands by standing up in sections and raising their arms in the air, would be outlawed immediately.
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/ 1 February 2007
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto on Thursday announced a 43% leap in full-year net profit to a record ,44-billion and forecast continued strong demand for commodities. The figure was higher than market expectations of a ,4-billion after tax result and compared with the ,22-billion net profit, notched-up in 2005.
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/ 28 January 2007
Defending champion Roger Federer swept to his 10th Grand Slam title with a commanding straight sets victory over Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday. The peerless Swiss world number one fought off two set points in the opening set and went on to secure his third Australian title with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4 win over the Chilean 10th seed.
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/ 27 January 2007
Serena Williams destroyed Russian top seed Maria Sharapova 6-1 6-2 in the Australian Open final on Saturday to clinch her eighth Grand Slam title. Unseeded after a year plagued by injury, Williams made a mockery of the rankings by tearing the United States Open champion apart in just 63 minutes on the Rod Laver Arena.
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/ 26 January 2007
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez continued his rich vein of form to demolish German Tommy Haas 6-1 6-3 6-1 on Friday to reach the Australian Open final. The 10th seed produced another sublime performance against 12th seed Haas to advance to his first Grand Slam final in which he will play world number one Roger Federer on Sunday.
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/ 25 January 2007
Top seed Roger Federer put on a virtuoso display to blow away Andy Roddick 6-4 6-0 6-2 to reach the Australian Open final on Thursday. The Swiss defending champion unleashed an unstoppable barrage of winners to shatter the American sixth seed and book a place in a record-equalling seventh consecutive Grand Slam final.
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/ 25 January 2007
Maria Sharapova gate crashed Kim Clijsters’s farewell party at the Australian Open on Thursday to set up an historic final showdown with Serena Williams. Comeback queen Williams proved that she still belonged among the elite as she doused the youthful exuberance of Czech 10th seed Nicole Vaidisova 7-6 6-4 with a ruthless exhibition of power-hitting.
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/ 25 January 2007
Maria Sharapova was fined 000 after her father coached her from the sidelines during her Australian Open quarterfinal win over Anna Chakvetadze, officials said on Thursday. The top seed received the fine after getting a code violation from Portuguese umpire Mariana Alves during Wednesday’s match because of her father’s behaviour.
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/ 24 January 2007
A stunned Rafael Nadal was turfed out of the Australian Open on Wednesday by Fernando Gonzalez as Kim Clijsters ended the dreams of Martina Hingis to set up a semifinal showdown with Maria Sharapova. Russian third seat Nikolay Davydenko joined Nadal on the scrapheap, beaten by unfancied German Tommy Haas in five tough sets.
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/ 24 January 2007
Kim Clijsters had another quarterfinal win over Martina Hingis despite a rash of unforced errors, and moved into the Australian Open semifinals against top-seeded Maria Sharapova. Fourth-seeded Clijsters won 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday, breaking Hingis’ serve in the last game and ending the match with a forehand passing shot.
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/ 23 January 2007
The ”ultimate competitor”, Serena Williams, upset the form book to blitz into the Australian Open semifinals on Tuesday as Roger Federer and Andy Roddick set up a showdown against each other. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams, who won here in 2003 and 2005, staged an amazing fightback to down Israeli 16th seed Shahar Peer 3-6, 6-2, 8-6 in an epic battle.
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/ 23 January 2007
Australian Open spectators face a dilemma when crowd favourites Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis compete in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Clijsters was once known as ”Aussie Kim” when she dated local hero Lleyton Hewitt and Hingis won here three times and says appearing on the Rod Laver Arena is ”like coming home”.
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/ 22 January 2007
Rafael Nadal battled through a five-set firestorm to book his ticket to the Australian Open quarterfinals early on Tuesday as Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters set up an enticing clash. Top seed Maria Sharapova also marched on, outmuscling fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva 7-5, 6-4.
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/ 21 January 2007
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams gestured ”number one” with her index finger after rolling back the years to gatecrash the Australian Open quarterfinals on Sunday. The unseeded Williams crushed eleventh seed Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-2 in front of an adoring crowd at the Rod Laver Arena after passing the sternest test yet in her comeback from injury.
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/ 21 January 2007
Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo suffered a stunning 6-4, 6-3 defeat by unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova in the Australian Open fourth round on Sunday. The French second seed imploded after taking a 4-1 first-set lead, losing seven straight games before the 19-year-old Safarova completed victory in 89 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
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/ 20 January 2007
Top-seeded Maria Sharapova got another taste of the elements, ignoring the saunalike conditions in Rod Laver Arena to advance to the second week of the Australian Open. While often heavy rain prevented play on outside courts, the roof on Rod Laver Arena was closed on Saturday for Sharapova’s 6-3, 6-1 third-round win over 30th-seeded Tathiana Garbin.
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/ 20 January 2007
For the first time in the Open era there is no American female seeded at the Australian Open, but Serena Williams is doing her best ensure United States tennis doesn’t sink completely from view. With Lindsay Davenport pregnant and expected to retire and sister Venus Williams out injured, she is flying the Stars and Stripes with a watershed match on Sunday in her comeback from injury.
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/ 19 January 2007
Marat Safin was bounced out of the Australian Open in the third round by Andy Roddick in a bad-tempered dogfight on Friday as Serena Williams announced she is back with a vengeance. World number one Roger Federer also made the fourth round, as did women’s champion Amelie Mauresmo and Russian third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
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/ 19 January 2007
Australian Open organisers on Friday defended keeping quiet about the sexual assault of a five-year-old boy in a toilet this week, saying they did so at the request of police. The young boy was sexually assaulted at the Rod Laver Arena on Monday. Police said they were examining hours of security video footage taken at the tournament’s opening day.
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/ 18 January 2007
Second seed Rafael Nadal got a wake-up call on Thursday but title contenders Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis were in a class of their own, breezing into the Australian Open third round. Clay court specialist Nadal, drawn to face world number one Roger Federer in this year’s final, was given a marathon workout by 61st ranked German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
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/ 18 January 2007
Australian Open organisers will review their heat policy after scathing criticism by top players and concern from Women’s Tennis Association boss Larry Scott. It follows disturbing scenes on Tuesday when top seed Maria Sharapova wilted in the 40 degrees Celsius temperatures and said afterwards she was ”delusional” in her match against Camille Pin of France.
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/ 18 January 2007
Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis have developed a friendly rivalry over who can dispose of their opponents quickest in the Australian Open’s early stages. The two former world number ones have both been in dominant form at the season-opening Grand Slam, where a scheduling coincidence has meant they took to the court at the same time for their matches in the first two rounds.
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/ 17 January 2007
Roger Federer stepped up his relentless march to another Australian Open title on Wednesday, sweeping into the third round alongside draw cards Amelie Mauresmo, Andy Roddick and Serena Williams. The world number one blasted past veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in just 95 minutes as he chases his third Australian crown and 10th Grand Slam.
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/ 17 January 2007
Roger Federer made sure he did not repeat his lapses from his opening match in Wednesday’s second-round win over Jonas Bjorkman at the Australian Open. Andy Roddick also lifted his act, and Serena Williams moved into the third round with another straight-sets win.
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/ 16 January 2007
Russian top seed Maria Sharapova survived a massive scare in sapping heat at the Australian Open on Tuesday as other top names avoided the worst of the weather to make short work of their opponents. On a scorching Melbourne day, with temperatures touching 40 degrees Celsius, the women’s top seed, who needed treatment for cramps, squeezed past unseeded Frenchwoman Camille Pin.